CoolBreeze44 wrote:Everybody comes to camp in shape. It's not like the old days where guys used to play their way into condition. Most teams know what their final roster will be except for a couple lower end guys. There really isn't that much internal competition for a majority of the league. The regular season is long enough, even if you don't make the playoffs. I honestly believe they could start playing regular games after two weeks.
And get rid of games that they can make money on? No way. Owners are too money-hungry to cut the schedule unless there's some way for them to make it up.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Everybody comes to camp in shape. It's not like the old days where guys used to play their way into condition. Most teams know what their final roster will be except for a couple lower end guys. There really isn't that much internal competition for a majority of the league. The regular season is long enough, even if you don't make the playoffs. I honestly believe they could start playing regular games after two weeks.
And get rid of games that they can make money on? No way. Owners are too money-hungry to cut the schedule unless there's some way for them to make it up.
If more games equals more money automatically, why do none of the leagues outside of football talk about having a longer season? The owners would be pushing that every CBA if it was as easy as play more games, make more money. They would be pushing a 10 game pre-season if that was the case. A good chunk of the league operates at a deficit just to host games in their stadiums and pay everyone because of bad attendance numbers so it's not as simple as giving up games means they make less. Some franchises would make more with less games because they wouldn't lose as much throughout the year as they do now. They're all getting covered on the backend with stuff like the TV deal to turn a profit on the whole thing, but more games doesn't necessarily mean more money and less games doesn't necessarily mean less money.
I remember when the league used to play 10 preseason games. They also used to have a 10 round draft.
The proof that you don't need a month of preseason is what they've done on strike shortened years. Even the ultimate team sport (NFL) has gone without preseason games before. The only sport where a long preseason is essential is baseball where pitchers need to be ramped up over 30 days.
CoolBreeze44 wrote:Everybody comes to camp in shape. It's not like the old days where guys used to play their way into condition. Most teams know what their final roster will be except for a couple lower end guys. There really isn't that much internal competition for a majority of the league. The regular season is long enough, even if you don't make the playoffs. I honestly believe they could start playing regular games after two weeks.
And get rid of games that they can make money on? No way. Owners are too money-hungry to cut the schedule unless there's some way for them to make it up.
The owners were agreeable to cutting down the schedule at the last CBA meetings, but the idea got shelved as soon as they told the players they would be getting a pro-rated salary based on the shorter schedule. There is plenty of greed to go around.
